


Street Dreams

by trainercap



Category: Eddsworld - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Apocalypse, Apocalypse, M/M, Major Character Injury, Near Death Experiences, Survival
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-12-05
Updated: 2017-12-05
Packaged: 2019-02-11 01:39:23
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,831
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12924567
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/trainercap/pseuds/trainercap
Summary: Bloody red dipped into the skyline, the normal baby blue now shaded from the burning buildings and riots. It didn’t look like a normal day. It wasn’t a normal day.  Trust what you see, not what you hear. “It’s all going to end up okay!” The people preached. It wasn’t going to end up okay. It was the end of the world.





	Street Dreams

A full tank of gas should get Tord to the safe house. That’s where he needs to be. There is no other place safer than that. Not for them. 

It was called an apocalypse. The worst of them all. Maybe even a rapture. There was no way to get out of this.

Not just some zombies, nothing that they hadn’t dealt with six times before. It was much worse. Dare he say; the end of the world. Armageddon; the second coming. Anything, he tried to grasp straws for the cause of this phenomenon. 

There was no answer, none probable. 

Roads were completely sheltered by weeds and blood. Each time the tires bounced, Tord could have sworn that it squished and squealed with guts. It was disgusting. Even to the man who has committed so many evil crimes, so many murders himself; it was appalling.

The taste of blood stayed sweetly on his tongue, reminding him of the last battle he was shoved into. A gorey one, to say the least. Another group in the apocalypse survivalists had made a cruel attack to try and snatch their supplies, and he bit his tongue pretty badly in the process. They were greatly outnumbers and did the only thing they could think to do; grab their items and run like hell. They all went separate directions, and now Tord could only hope they’d all be finding their way home. 

Their items were safely kept, though. Only a few were stolen. Tord kept one of their most important weapons, a gently used AK-47 that he grabbed before they were ran out. Ammo was a scarcely found item, but if used well and rationally, he could make the few rounds he had last. 

Dusty sneakers pressed hard against the pedal as he tried to push the rusty red car on further. A full tank of gas wouldn’t help him if he didn’t even have a working car. It was going to be a long ride there, and the horned man couldn’t help but wonder if his friends would even last to walk there. Maybe they’d hitch a ride. 

No, they wouldn’t. They’re not that stupid. You’d get robbed immediately. Robbed of your life, then your items. Even Matt, of all people, knew better than that.

Matt. He was something special, Tord thought. He always got his way out of everything, he always had a new plan if another one didn’t work out. Something about this apocalypse made him harden, though. He was tough. Not the same man who squealed when he saw a spider or let his narcissism blind him. Matt was different. The end of the world changes people.

The vehicle continued to bounce and shake down what was left of the roads. Bloody red dipped into the skyline, the normal baby blue now shaded from the burning buildings and riots. It didn’t look like a normal day. It wasn’t a normal day. Trust what you see, not what you hear. “It’s all going to end up okay!” The people preached. It wasn’t going to end up okay. It was the end of the world. 

If Edd could hear what Tord was thinking, he’d have it for him. “Don’t think like that, Tord!” He’d wheeze. He wasn’t made to be breathing in the musty air. Edd had weak lungs. “It’ll all be over soon, we just have to last while we can.” Edd was too optimistic. Unrealistic. It wouldn’t end well, and Tord knew it. Everyone knew it. They would have to last through this and then they’d die. Everyone would die. Everyone dies someday, but this day would come sooner than they thought. 

His knuckles were turning white as he gripped the wheel too harshly. This was getting stressful. Grey eyes darted to the clock, barely burning with light. 11:48 AM. Only 20 minutes had passed while he was lost in thought. He was a few miles further than he was before. A long way to go. 

Now, his eyes trained on the road. Limbs were scattered. Some looked to be fresh, some were rotting. Once again, it was disgusting. Tord’s nose scrunched up as the wheels bumped against them, the sound of squishing following them. 

The road was coming to a stop in front of him, cutting off where a dead end used to be. It blended in with the dirt, creating the illusion that it was fading away. Time to travel by assumption. 

Seconds on the grass turned to minutes, and minutes quickly turned into 2 hours until Tord arrived back to the safe house. The drive was long and uneventful, but the slightest rumble of his stomach shocked him each time. 

Tord could only hope that his friends would be finding their way back to their safety with some food along with them. He was aware that they were beginning to grow desperate for something to eat, to the point where they considered eating whoever and whatever they killed.

And let Tord tell you, they were definitely getting needy. 

His nail beds were chewed off completely, looking for anything to distract him from his hunger. Thinking about his friends, that’s what he’d do. Lowering his fingers from his mouth, looking down at the blood threatening to spill from his nails, he began to consider. Consider where his friends were, or if they’d even get back alive. Edd would, he always does. Matt? He wasn’t too sure about him. He might end up doing something stupid, thinking with his heart instead of his head. 

Tom.

Tom, he had no idea what would be going on with him. Tord almost always had the ability to read people like books, but he couldn’t with Tom. He was mysterious, he managed to hide from his radar. He couldn’t figure him out if he tried.

He hated it.

But, even with all the hate in the world pushed towards Tom, he could only hope he made it back the the shack alive. They needed as many people as they could. They couldn’t survive on their own. None of them could.

But Tord was all alone now.

He had to wait. And hope.

Hope that they made it home alive and well. 

Everything was based on hope in this new world. There was no changing it, no making it better for the people or stopping the state that the world was in. You had to hope for the best and expect for it not to happen. Tord followed suit, that’s exactly what he did.

He hoped, and even prayed that his friends would come back.

And then he opened his eyes to the sight of the one and only Edd, hovering in front of his face.

For a second, Tord’s heart skipped. It was all a dream. Could it be? They were perfectly fine, they were back to normal. He was at the house, he was still with Edd and Matt and they were all fine.

…

Good thoughts can’t last forever. It wasn’t true. 

Edd moved away as soon as Tord’s eyes popped open. They were still in the hut, and now Edd had joined him.

He brought no food into their shack, and now he swore that he was starving, as well as disappointed.

“When did you get back, Edd?” His voice was raspier than he expected from the lack of water. 

Edd stepped away and began walking out the door, speaking meanwhile. “An hour ago. I let you rest, you needed it, but I figured I should wake you up before you lost your pulse. Your lungs would probably give out,” he teased, but the statement was true. You couldn’t sleep for too long, your breathing would get too deep, and the gases in the air would plant neatly in your bloodstream. 

That’s just what Edd was here to help with. When he walked out, Tord seemed bewildered as to where he was going, why was he going outside again? The door didn’t slam behind him like it would if he was leaving though. He came back in a few minutes, dense cloth in his hands. Before Tord could question what it was for, Edd tied it it around it mouth and nose, blocking the air-flow in the slightest. 

His lungs filled with what felt like purer air, filtering out more of the chemicals than what he would do breathing bare. The only drawback was the fact that breathing took more effort, not like Tord wasn’t already dealing with that too. 

Edd stood awaiting a response, which Tord didn’t recognize until his eyes met the expecting ones in front of him. “Oh! Thank you, Edd. It works.”

The brunette was smiling, he seemed proud. He turned his back towards Tord as he ventured to the other side of the room, looking like he was about to begin pacing. 

“I got one for Tom and Matt too.”

“What about yours?” 

Edd paused. A light shuffling was heard and he turned around. Although Tord couldn’t see his mouth, he could only assume the stupid smile that would be under the cloth woven around his face. 

“And, where’d you get this?” Tord continued his mini-interrogation. A small snort left Edd. 

“Another traveler crossed paths with me. He attacked me first, so I strangled him with my bare hands,” Edd added emphasis by wiggling his fingers. “His shirt was basically a sweater, I took it and ripped it into strips. I figured, we still have our hoodies. They’re torn, but we won’t freeze. ‘Might as well use the sweater for something else if we can’t share it anyways.” He finalized his statement with a shrug.

The Norwegian made a curious nod, imagining what he would have done if he were in the same situation. No matter, he hunkered back down where he sat and glanced up at Edd with shining silver eyes. “What time is it?” He just now took a glance outside. The sun was setting. How long could he have been asleep? 

“I don’t know, you’re the one with a clock in your car.”

“And you’re the one with a stick up your ass,” Tord cackled, as response to Edd’s quiet chuckle.

“There’s not much we can do now but wait, unless you want to go out and look for food. Tom and Matt were nowhere to be found, they’ll have to find us first.”

Tord was up to his feet in a few seconds. “You lay down, Edd. I’ll go looking for food.” It was then he realized his mouth was watering at the thought. As much as he would have wished to stay behind and let Edd do all the work, he raised from his seat on the dusty ground and started towards the door before Edd could stop him. The horned man heard him make a sound of warning, but stopped when he saw that Tord would not be taking no for an answer.

So, he went off in search for his food.


End file.
